CHINESE FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 35, 5 November 1907, Page 3

CHINESE FOOTBALL.

"The first game of football I witnessed upon my arrival in China," one of the United States consular representatives at home for a visit, remarked recently, "1 mistook for a very serious riot, and you wouldn't havo blamed me either. ' "In the first place, I was not aware that the Chinese had any such game, but later found that' it is very popular in North China. It is not played as is the American game, and instead of eleven players thero are fifty. These northern Chinese arc almost giants, and every man in tho team will bo six feet or over in height, and weigh on tho average 200 pounds. There are no, goats, side lines, or Halves. The game lasts until one side is. the winnner, and frequently this is not accomplished before two or three days. "The idea of the game is to force a small wicker basket, which takes the place of our ball, into the territory of tho other side—this territory being one half of the town, and up and down the street the fight rages. Each man is equipped with a whistle witli which to summon assistance when too hardly pressed. "Stealth, as well as main force, may bo used in getting tho ball into the enemy's country; ans 1 know of one clever player who did so by pasing over the roofs of the houses. As you' may imagine, one hundred giants yelling and fighting .in tho streets-create some excitement.— "Harper's Weekly."